As a general rule, all doctors accept Medicare payment under the assignment process. Some refuse assignment and ask you to pay at time of service. Most doctors limit the number of Medicare patients they will treat.
If you have Medicare Advantage the situation is different. In some areas less than half the doctors participate in Medicare Advantage networks.
Doctors CAN refuse to bill through Medicare, but will work on a cash payment. Some doctors do not like the "payment schedule" of Medicare services, some see the value of serving a growing population and will bill through Medicare. We, here in CA, are finding that there are a lot of doctors not willing to bill Medicare or Medicare plans. But if you have a Medicare Supplement plan, more of the doctors will accept billing for this - not sure why, because they have to send out two bills - one to Medicare and one to the plan. Always call your preferred doctor's billing department to ask what they accept before deciding on which kind of Medicare plan you will enroll in.
There are actually three Medicare contractual options for physicians. Physicians may sign a participating (PAR) agreement and accept Medicare's allowed charge as payment in full for all of their Medicare patients. They may elect to be a non-PAR physician, which permits them to make assignment decisions on a case-by-case basis and to bill patients for more than the Medicare allowance for unassigned claims. Or, they may become a private contracting physician, agreeing to bill patients directly and forego any payments from Medicare to their patients or themselves.Physicians who wish to change their status from PAR to non-PAR or vice versa may do so annually. Once made, the decision is generally binding until the next annual contracting cycle except where the physician's practice situation has changed significantly, such as relocation to a different geographic area or a different group practice. To become a private contractor, physicians must give 30 days notice before the first day of the quarter the contract takes effect.
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If you have Medicare Advantage the situation is different. In some areas less than half the doctors participate in Medicare Advantage networks.